Lorenzetti Acres Ltd, also better known as the Klop family farm on Laidlaw Road, is recovering from a devastating fire that occurred Tuesday afternoon, when a barn went up in flames.
The fire was contained with the efforts of The Hope Fire Department and volunteer firefighters from Popkum and Agassiz, who banned together to extinguish flames and round-up displaced cattle and farm animals on the property.
“Hope did an incredible job Tuesday — pretty much every piece of equipment we had in Hope and Popkum was there — it was mostly manpower and transporting water. We were able to hook up to the irrigation system the farm has, and it helped us to supply a constant supply of water,” Hope Fire Chief, Tom DeSorcy told The Hope Standard.
When officials arrived on scene, the barn was already engulfed in fire and the wind was coming from the east and pushing the fire away from the house.
“It was more chaotic than any scene I’ve ever witnessed in my career — we had over 650 head of cattle and they were everywhere — people, the farmers, everyone was working together to corral them and they were running toward us and away from us,” said DeSorcy.
The community and its surrounding neighbours, came from as far as Vancouver, bringing animal trailers by the dozens to help get the animals to safety and to secure the area. Officials are still working tirelessly to quiet down the effects of the blaze.
In a statement made by John Klop to The Hope Standard, the family is floored by the efforts of the community and is doing everything they can to expedite the clean-up process. According to Klop they are working with the officials, and are grateful to everyone who pitched in to help.
For a more detailed accounting of the the fire please see The Hope Standard’s November 5 edition.